Nothing is ever simple in television. It’s bad enough that your car breaks down, but it only happens on the way to a meeting, rather than on the way home. It’s also raining and the only available tow truck will be there in three days. Oh, and your mechanic just left for a long vacation.
Such is the case with Star Trek: Discovery. The crew is trapped in the Mirror Universe. They’re not sure how it happened, but they know they can use the spore drive to get back. The problem is that they also have to stop the Mirror Universe’s Terran Empire from overusing spore technology and destroying all life in every universe. To do so would probably leave them stranded, unless they can come up with a better plan.
We also find out that Captain Lorca was from the Mirror Universe and that the Mirror Version of Georgiou is the Emperor over there, at least until Lorca stages a coup. He wants Burnham to stay, but that’s not going to happen. Unless, of course, Burnham can use it as leverage to let the Discovery go home.
Saru, who’s becoming a very good captain, gets the crew to work towards a better option. (Whatever else happened in the first season, there is at least some character development.) The episode ends with three major events: Lorca dies, Burnham saves Georgiou and the Discovery makes it back to the Prime Universe…Nine months after they left.
There’s a part of me that feels like the story is coming together. Saru and Burnham seem to each have their own character arcs that are progressing nicely. We see Saru becoming a leader and Burnham becoming comfortable to being part of a crew again. Then, there are certain things that seem either overly sentimental or done for the sake of progressing the plot.
Why save Emperor Georgiou, for instance? Trek is no stranger to letting people die. Heck. Georgiou has died once already. Well, Lorca dies and it looks like they’ll be needing an evil character later on.
Then, we get to Tyler. We know he’s a Klingon sleeper agent. He does have his uses, but he’s allowed to roam freely, maybe because he looks human. L’Rell is kept in confinement, but she’s Klingon on the outside. Whatever Tyler’s fate may be, why not keep him locked up? Isn’t he as much of a threat?
I do think the story is progressing, but it’s doing so it fits and starts. This is a trend that I’ve seen with streaming series, though. Since the shows aren’t confined to a broadcast network’s schedule, the writers have more leeway. Episodes can be 30 minutes or 75 minutes, as the story needs. The modern series had 26 episodes per season. Discovery seems to be happy with half that.
This is also the first series to start out serialized rather than episodic. The Klingon War spans over a season. Going into the Mirror Universe takes a few episodes. This can be good if handled well. Here, it would seem to have been done to draw in those long-time fans.
Discovery uses the continuity, but takes liberties with it. Yes, it draws on the previous series, but one would think that the Mirror Universe was new in Mirror, Mirror. Yes, the appearance of Klingons has changed before. I’m just hoping that subsequent episodes will put some detail on those broad strokes.
Such is the case with Star Trek: Discovery. The crew is trapped in the Mirror Universe. They’re not sure how it happened, but they know they can use the spore drive to get back. The problem is that they also have to stop the Mirror Universe’s Terran Empire from overusing spore technology and destroying all life in every universe. To do so would probably leave them stranded, unless they can come up with a better plan.
We also find out that Captain Lorca was from the Mirror Universe and that the Mirror Version of Georgiou is the Emperor over there, at least until Lorca stages a coup. He wants Burnham to stay, but that’s not going to happen. Unless, of course, Burnham can use it as leverage to let the Discovery go home.
Saru, who’s becoming a very good captain, gets the crew to work towards a better option. (Whatever else happened in the first season, there is at least some character development.) The episode ends with three major events: Lorca dies, Burnham saves Georgiou and the Discovery makes it back to the Prime Universe…Nine months after they left.
There’s a part of me that feels like the story is coming together. Saru and Burnham seem to each have their own character arcs that are progressing nicely. We see Saru becoming a leader and Burnham becoming comfortable to being part of a crew again. Then, there are certain things that seem either overly sentimental or done for the sake of progressing the plot.
Why save Emperor Georgiou, for instance? Trek is no stranger to letting people die. Heck. Georgiou has died once already. Well, Lorca dies and it looks like they’ll be needing an evil character later on.
Then, we get to Tyler. We know he’s a Klingon sleeper agent. He does have his uses, but he’s allowed to roam freely, maybe because he looks human. L’Rell is kept in confinement, but she’s Klingon on the outside. Whatever Tyler’s fate may be, why not keep him locked up? Isn’t he as much of a threat?
I do think the story is progressing, but it’s doing so it fits and starts. This is a trend that I’ve seen with streaming series, though. Since the shows aren’t confined to a broadcast network’s schedule, the writers have more leeway. Episodes can be 30 minutes or 75 minutes, as the story needs. The modern series had 26 episodes per season. Discovery seems to be happy with half that.
This is also the first series to start out serialized rather than episodic. The Klingon War spans over a season. Going into the Mirror Universe takes a few episodes. This can be good if handled well. Here, it would seem to have been done to draw in those long-time fans.
Discovery uses the continuity, but takes liberties with it. Yes, it draws on the previous series, but one would think that the Mirror Universe was new in Mirror, Mirror. Yes, the appearance of Klingons has changed before. I’m just hoping that subsequent episodes will put some detail on those broad strokes.
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